10/27/2010

Halloween costume DIY

Hi Robots!

As halloween is quicky approaching (eep!) I've taken some time off making monsters for Indie Mart and am working on Erin's and my own Halloween costumes- I'm not telling you what they are yet! Stay tuned for a Halloween-themed My Weekend In Photos next week!

But, it reminded me of 2 years ago when I tackled a pretty good DIY costume for my boyfriend and myself and I thought I'd share:

Matador and Bull:

We bought some rediculous outfits: My boyfriend got some Hideous track pants with a gold stripe and a gloriously ugly shirt, we found a bolero jacket and I made a red cape for him to taunt me with. Mine was a vintage halter neck dress with a Huge skirt:

The part I'm most proud about was making the hats! You can see Andy's matador hat close up on the left in the photo above. Matador hats normally look like this->

I made Andy's out of a black baseball hat with the bill cut off. Then I cut the stiff front part out of 2 trucker hats, glued them to the sides and covered them in black felt. Voila and Ole!

My Bull hat was also super exciting to make. I bought a standard Viking hat at a costume store for about $8. I devided the space on the hat into 6 parts, like the slices on a pizza, and cut out large rounded triangles out of faux fur, I glued them down, cutting them around the horns for an exact fit:

Then came the challenge of making the face. I had planned on making a bull muzzle on my own and stuffing it. But another of my friends was working on a project of his own- he was making a fuzzy tail for his Wizard of Oz Lion out of the long arms of a stuffed monkey. Don't worry, the monkey was bought for $1 at a thrift store and wasn't anyone's dear toy! I was helping him with the arms, when I saw that the monkey had the perfect-sized muzzle to go on my Bull Hat! So I grabbed the scissors and did some surgery ;) I sewed my new-ly created muzzle on my bull, added some felt nostrils and some googly eyes, and ta dah!

Andy and I had SO much fun chasing each other around that night! (I managed to skewer him a few times!)

In case you were wondering what happened to the poor dismantled monkey, we've kept him around! We've christened him Barf Monkey, because he can't seem to keep his stuffing inside him:

He holds a special place in our hearts, and has proved to be a hilarious friend and dog toy.

Check that the costume fits properly and is not too long. A robe or cape that is too long is a tripping hazard and could put an early end to your child’s Halloween fun. Use a sewing machine to shorten the length. If you don’t sew, safety pins can provide a quick fix.